


Make Me See Stars

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Are They Or Aren't They?, Avengers 2, Avengers Mansion, Coulson is the Rick Jones of the Marvel Movieverse, F/M, Feels, Funny, Gen, Guest House guest's reveal, Kissing, Near Death, Phil's powers, Planet Hulk, Romance, Scarlett Witch, Skye flirts with everyone, Speculation, Tension, Training, True Love, skye's powers, yes they are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 21:22:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1526252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye is asked to help the Avengers in their final battle against Ultron.  Or, she invited herself to help.  Either way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make Me See Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts).



Skye managed to wrangle free and blind the woman with one of Fitz' mini flash grenades. For, like, 2 seconds. She did not want to tangle with this woman. 

At all.

"How did you get in here?" the other asked flatly. Deadly. Demanding. Beginning to circle.

"I was invited," Skye replied honestly, matching her and making sure her back stayed, y'know, back there. 

The woman kicked out at her. Skye instantly knew it was a feint, didn't go for it. The woman looked, maybe, slightly impressed? 

"Thought I was going to go for that, didn't ya?" Skye said, in that weirdly friendly way that made The Black Widow scrunch up her face.

"What?" she replied in disbelief.

"Tony invited me here," Skye said, "Via Maria Hill?" 

Tasha frowned even more, if that were possible, and wheeled behind her sucking her into a choke hold. Skye could hear something powering up at her wrist.

"Are you seriously going to shoot me in the head with that?" Skye choked out. "Seriously?!"

Tasha released her and threw her to the floor. "You should know," she replied. "My file is plastered all over the web. And P.S. - you're talking too much to be any kind of serious threat to me."

"Hey!" Skye said offended, helping herself up.

"I really did invite her," came the voice from behind them. Tony was leaning against the automated door as it swished shut. "But ladies, please continue. I'm enjoying myself."

Tasha just huffed and shot Tony an awful glare.

"Of course," he continued, "she did start by hacking into my system," Skye gave him a pleading glare. "In order...to send me a com. See, without Jarvis, I'm pretty vulnerable at the moment."

Tasha narrowed her eyes at Tony, "Oh, you poor baby..."

"Sorry, seemed kind of dire and all." Skye cut in and cut through whatever that look was they were exchanging. "And I figured I could help." She smoothed out the braid hanging across her shoulder.

"Yes, dire is what we do," said Tony, offering her a handshake. Skye smiled, taking it and returning the gesture. "But we do like to play nice when we can; isn't that right, Tasha?"

Tasha's gesture to Tony felt much less welcoming.

 

***

 

Skye ticked away on the panel in front of her with her fingertips, "No pressure," she told herself, "It's just the Avengers and I'm at their secret base and we are going to save the world, most likely, and...why am I monologuing right now? She was right...I talk too much..." 

Find the exploit. That's what Tony had said. As in, like, Tony Stark aka Iron Man. He had invited her to this little property in upstate New York which had actually turned out to be a mansion loaded to the gills with the most droolicious tech she'd ever laid eyes on. Tony Stark's toys were sexy. Tony wasn't so bad, either.

The exploit was a crazy A.I. self-dubbed Ultron, who was responsible for a mini-invasion of the United States, all of NYC (wow, they must REALLY hate the Avengers by now), and most of the world's capitals and military centers. Skye noticed immediately the robot army's shockingly similar designs to Tony's Iron Man armors. Tony said he'd heard she had a talent for exploiting weaknesses, and now, here she was, standing in the Avengers' command center at the controls while Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and Dr. David Banner stood watch.

Her eyes raced over the screen panel, deep in thought. Then, she suddenly looked up, caught in a moment. A smile slid over her face, eyelashes flickering. 

"Wow," she said aloud, "You look great."

Thor flashed a grin, and bumped Tony, who shrugged his shoulders, smirking, while Cap smiled modestly and looked around for something else to look at. Tasha glared over at Clint leaning on the wall and rolled her eyes while Banner just stood nearby shaking his head.

"I think she was talking to me," came a voice casually from behind them. Cap, Thor and Tony swung around to see Agent Coulson standing there with his arms crossed, dressed in a black-on-black suit, an amused grin catching the corner of his mouth.

"Meet Director Coulson of S.W.O.R.D." said Skye, her eyes passing their shoulders, locked on her boss. He nodded at her and kept his eyes there just a few lingering seconds before engaging the others. Banner looked at Tasha and Clint and mockingly mouthed the letters S-W-O-R-D? Clint looked genuinely curious, but was staring at Coulson. Tasha bit her lower lip.

"You're supposed to be dead," said Cap, flatly. Tony ran a hand over his chin and looked at Tasha. She just gave Tony a knowing, guilty nod back. Thor broke the silence and ice and strode over to pick Coulson up bodily and raise him in the air, booming, "Son of Coul! You live, my friend!" 

The evident joy in Thor's tone was exactly what was needed, as Coulson answered, "Yes, dignity intact," and Thor lowered him to the ground. Tony came over to shake his hand and the Director greeted everyone earnestly in turn, glad to be in their company once again. 

"Fanboys never say die, even when they do," thought Skye. 

Except for Cap. He remained near, but at a distance.

 

***

 

"It stands for Sentient World Observation and Response Department," said Coulson, explaining the acronym to Banner. Banner was working at one of those machines in his lab, making a modification to a gamma beam that would work in unison with the new girl's probability-bending powers. The acronym, naturally, solicited an eyeroll from Banner.

"So, your girl's an 084?" 

"Guess word gets around," Coulson offered.

"And what are you these days, Phil?" The use of his first name came across a bit hard.

"Did I tell you just how much I've really missed your suspicious nature, Dr. Banner?" 

"No, no you haven't," he strained a bit, chuckled uneasily, reaching for a part. Coulson just grabbed it and handed it to him.

"Tony really set me up here," Banner continued. "This stuff is very, very sensitive." Banner was acting like he was explaining it to an intern, motioning around to all of his equipment, flashing lights and monitors. Coulson caught the jist, and listed, crossing his arms. "Picks up all kinds of readings, gamma, beta...alien..."

"Nifty," said Coulson in his curt way, "Then it seems like you're in a position to tell me." A beat. "What I am these days."

Banner put the thingamajig down. "Coming back from the dead looks good on you, Coulson," he started, fighting a smile. Coulson just shook his head. He'd seen all the tests. Big deal. Banner wanted something. Info, some kind of trade...

"Or, is it the 084?"

"Classy," Coulson replied.

"But hey, not classified," Banner said, pointing a finger at Coulson, "'Cause you guys aren't doing that anymore, right?"

"We're doing things the way we like to do things. Not just the way people tell us to do them," he said earnestly.

Banner narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure that will work on someone like me? I mean, logically speaking..."

Coulson shrugged, done. "It's complicated."

"Oh, I can tell," Banner said with a self-satisfied nod.

"Wait, are we talking about...?" Coulson started.

"No," chuckled Banner. "Never were."

 

***

 

"Let's see about this exploit talent," he said as he re-wrapped his hand after a solid punch to the hanging bag in the training room. "Tasha says I should grab you by your braid and yank."

Okaaaay. 

Skye had shown up in her own Avengers issue sweats, yeah! And yeah, she had a braid. And yeah, she was staring across the mat at Steve Rogers, aka Captain Dreamypants, dressed down in workout clothes. Wow. Wow, wow, wowee, wow. But could it be that he was maybe, being kind of a... 

"A.C. thought it would be good to train with you since we had some downtime before the mission," she offered, trying to shake it off.

"A.C.?"

"Just my little nickname for 'the Director'." 

"I see," he said, scowling and landing another punch, the muscles on his jaw working underneath the skin.

Skye could see the hurt. It was part of her gifting. She put her hand on his arm, as he hugged the bag to keep it from swinging and turned towards her, blinking hard before giving her a cold stare.

"If he could've reached out to you...You would've been the first. Fury 'died', and then we were terrorists overnight. We were gone, off the grid. We had no way..."

"What about before then," he said, leaning into her. "What about the months leading up to S.H.I.E.L.D. falling apart from H.Y.D.R.A. rats?" 

She was surprised at his intensity. He moved towards her, forcing her to step backwards.

"Do you know we felt responsible for him," he was raising his voice, "Responsible for his death?!"

She put a hand against his chest to still him. His breathing slowed. This was also one of her gifts.

"When you do that, does it make you feel safe?" he asked her sharply, before turning his back. "Or do you only do that to people who are easily controlled?"

"Wow," she grinned, impressed. "That is so cool."

He spun around. Not liking the mocking.

"You totally figured out my powers," she said excitedly. "C.A., all you had to do was ask," she laughed, then offered honestly, "I can feel what you are feeling. At least a bit."

"Well," he said, sarcastically. "That's not very S.H.I.E.L.D.-Y of you."

"And that's exactly the point," she said. "We don't want to keep secrets anymore. I trust you. You really rubbed off on him."

Cap looked at her unbelieving, "What am I supposed to say to that?"

Skye smiled and raised her hand, "How about...Hip, Hip, Hooray!?"

"Are you," he started, "Grasping for a WWII reference...?"

"Yes!" she paused. "But, the point is, you got back your #1 fan, and I am about to get combat-trained by one of the most adorable human beings on Earth."

"Yeah," he said, nodding, liking it, not sure why. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Oh," said Skye conspiratorially, "Tasha is totally into you, by the way..."

Steve just stared at her with his mouth slightly open. "Can we just do the training thing...?"

"Right." 

 

***

 

Coulson made his way through the corridor when he saw Barton in the galley kitchen, casually throwing arrow-shaped magnets against the fridge with bored precision. The man stopped to look at him. Gave him a hard stare. Coulson turned back towards his destination, about to continue. Thought against it and walked in. He wanted a coffee. Tony would have the good stuff, of course. He eyed the espresso machine on the counter directly in Barton's path.

Clint walked over to the fridge to reclaim his magnet arrows and walked back past the rows of tables to the far corner of the room. Thunk. The arrow landed against the fridge. Coulson started towards the coffee machine.

Whizz. The arrow just missed his head, hitting the fridge just so.

"So, is she your..."

"...right hand?" interjected Coulson. He picked up a glass from the stack. "Yes, absolutely. Assistant Director," he offered, a bit smugly, over his shoulder. He leaned over the machine, "Cortado," he spoke into the air. Silence. Jarvis was gone, that's right. Guess he'd have to make it himself. 

Walking to the fridge, he opened it as another arrow landed on the door. Near his head. He blinked and reached for the whole milk. Shut the door.

"Yeah. Right hand," Clint said dryly. "Who is half..."

"...of a really...great...team," said Coulson with concentration, assembling all the tools from the various drawers. "Sorry, haven't done this in awhile."

Thunk. Another arrow. And an eyeroll. Coulson ignored him. Wait for it.

"Your age...!"

"...agent?!" Coulson asked, his brows knotting, voice slightly raised. "Oh yes, fully trained, by me" he said sipping his Cortado and then peacefully closing his eyes. He walked past the fridge as the last arrow just missed his head.

"What kind of operation do you think I'm running, Barton?"

"I don't know, but I hope it doesn't get you killed. Again." he said icily.

Coulson thought about Skye. What she would do or say. The exploit, but the one that made repairs.

"It's going to be okay," he threw it out there. Barton just stared back at him.

"Last time, it wasn't."

"I know, but I'm different now. We're all different."

 

***

 

"This is going to be so dangerous," said Skye, her lips pursed. "Do you have a death wish?"

"No, anti-death for sure, got the cure last year when I almost lost Pepper."

"That's so sweet," Skye said, putting the finishing touches on the simulacrum. The mansion had gone cold, lights out. 

She was writing the whole thing out on paper, by candlelight. Tsk. Stone Age shizzle. They were going to run it live, they couldn't risk the A.I. knowing. He had taken Jarvis, had used an LMD to build him a body. Poor Jarvis, she had kind of crush on him after all of their interactions during her hacking attempts during her years with The Rising Tide. She would always remember the shushing tone of his voice when he worked around her exploit. She had gotten him a few times. It had cost her. He was clever with his little EMP-lovin' ways. The whole time she'd thought it was a real person. So had the new girl, the one with the freaky deaky powers. The one who had spent a lot of time crying in the mansion alone when everyone else was asleep, except Jarvis. And he talked to her for hours. Skye had been told she and her speedster brother had been living in a basement controlled by HYDRA goons most of their lives. She wasn't sure she was ready to meet her and feel all of that. But, she thought Wanda was brave.

"Pepper doesn't really like me," Skye said, trying to lighten things up a little, distract her thoughts.

"She's just protective of Phil," Tony said. He picked up a pencil. "You mind? Oh. Wait. How do you use this again?"

Skye rolled her eyes. Too charming. Too too. "She calls him 'Phil'?" she jabbed.

Tony retraced her route on a transparent sheet and began drawing up an alternate.

"My, do I detect a hint of the green eyed monster?"

"Better than the green monster," said Skye, snorting, "Or so I hear."

Tony rated her joke very low. "He's pretty fond of you," he said, wiggling next to her, bumping shoulders. "He doesn't talk about the Cellist anymore."

"That's because the Cellist was H.Y.D.R.A."

"Oh."

 

***

 

It was night. He didn't sleep much these days. He'd stopped needing to. And the visions: the sky, the stars, galaxies...were always there, in the back of his mind. Just behind his eyes. He knew it was the formula, the alien from inside the Guest House. It had changed him. He just didn't know why. 

Sometimes, the energy would surge through him, but he hid it. Didn't want others to know, to worry. Besides, he knew she could siphon it off, absorb it into herself. He wasn't sure how much of that she felt, but she was okay. And she knew when he needed that. No matter the time of day. Or night. Where did it go, when she took it? All that energy?

"Son of Coul, you are looking at the stars again," said Thor, joining him on the roof of the mansion. 

"Yeah," he replied, "Sometimes I can feel them. Or they can feel me. Not sure which."

"Hmm...This is perhaps too much for men like ourselves," Thor began. "All I long for are simple things these days. To be with the woman I love, among good friends, repelling robot invasions for the honor of Earth."

"That's because you're good at all of those things," Coulson said with admiration. 

"And you are not?" he asked in disbelief. "I see you a friend to many, and here we are on the eve of battle. And below, I am quite sure that is your woman. Let us just be real."

Coulson winced, "When did you start talking like that?"

"Jane has acclimated me to your ways. Somewhat."

Coulson smiled and looked at him. "What gave it away?"

"You are more than free, more than happy. Only love does that."

"She's kind of awesome," he said, breathing deeply. "Way too young for me. It's crazy. I knew from the first day I met her. I told myself, 'No, no, no.' And then we were by each other's side, always. She kept telling me how great she thought I was. At first I thought she was just sucking up, trying to work me over, but that's how she really is. She meant it. And it changed everything. Even how she's pushed me. It's been so hard. Amazing... Just...amazing..."

"I am a thousand years older than Jane."

"What?" Coulson said, shocked, recoiling, immediately regretting it. Laughing at himself. "Okay. Alright. You win."

Thor clapped him on the back and laughed. Then paused. "That used to knock you over..."

Coulson smiled wryly. "You enjoyed that about our friendship, didn't you?"

 

***

 

"Sir, I can't believe they gave you that suit."

Coulson glared over at Fitz. Simmons was trying not to laugh.

"It's protective armor," said Coulson, defensively.

"You look like a nerd at WonderCon," said May, expressionless. "Let me guess...Captain..."

Coulson turned his back to them and saw Skye standing next to Lola, waiting, anxious. 

They were going to fight next to the Avengers. That was pretty cool. And also, totally dangerous. What the hell was Fitz going to do without all of his little machines during a robot takeover?

He was getting sentimental. He knew it was because he might not come back. They might not. This time, he might go be with the stars.

May walked over and grabbed his collar, straightened it a bit. "Captain Marvel sounds nice."

He hugged her hard. A thousand thank yous. She knew what it meant, but she wasn't going to cry.

Coulson extended his hand to Tripplett, his eyes briefly flickering over to Simmons, Fitz, May. "Take care of each other."

"Yes, sir," he said shaking it. "Been an honor."

 

***

 

It had worked. Not without a hitch. The timing was everything. 

Thor had bounced a few rounds with Ultron, and had regained consciousness with several cracked ribs and a broken wrist to show for it. Wanda's probability powers had let her take control of Jarvis. She kept calling him her Vision, which Skye thought was potentially a little unhealthy, but very useful for the moment. While her brother distracted him with a decoy EMP, and his racing about had let Vision suddenly turn to rip out Ultron's little tesseract-powered heart. 

The Hulk managed to contain the explosion, but they weren't sure where he'd ended up. Tony said that he still showed Banner's life signs on the monitor, but it didn't appear to be "here" was all he kept saying. Skye could feel the guilt eating him up, even though Banner had known the risk. 

Tasha and Clint had to hold the perimeter with Fury and Hill. They were all exhausted. Fury was pretty suave, even without his toys, but vibranium bullets and swords didn't slow robots down, just shattered pieces of them. It had been like hacking a steel forest. My, were they soldiers.

At one point, she really thought Ultron was going to snap Steve's neck, and that had freaked her out. Until he had picked up Thor's hammer and rung Ultron's bell, and yelled, "Avengers Assemble!" It made her want to cry. She knew why Phil loved him so much. So did she. 

But, Phil Coulson, lying still on the ground, after he had released all his cosmic radiation into Ultron in an attempt to overload his system. That is what had shaken her whole. His act had short circuited Ultron temporarily, and provided the distraction to give Wanda the opening, but Skye had watched this all, as in slow motion, racing to his side, breaking with the S.W.O.R.D. group. 

She thanked Clint silently as a few armor-piercing arrows caught her robot attackers as she ran.

And she made her way to him.

 

***

 

As Ultron was sorted, as the Hulk vanished, as Wanda held the Vision's head in her hands, whispering, "I will fix you," the remaining Avengers one by one made their way over to them, as she softly called out his name, kneeling beside.

"Phil, Phil, Phil, come back to me...."

"He's not breathing," Tony said, thinly disguised panic in his tone. "Thor, can you..."

Skye's eyes filled with tears, she was looking down at him, not hearing or seeing anyone else. Then, she remembered, her eyes flashed, wide. Whispering in a prayer, "Please, let this work..."

She held back her braid from her face, and leaning over, kissed Phil Coulson. 

In front of everyone.

Nothing happened.

"Oh, wow, this is going to make me cry," Tony started, blinking hard, a familiar panic attack coming on. Steve wrapped an arm around Tasha, their hands intertwining, their eyes watching. Fury had turned away, Hill holding his shaking shoulders. The others were restless. Skye could already feel Thor's old soul begin its mourning from behind his gleaming eyes.

Skye waited, her eyes closed. There was something inward, behind them, open, waiting. He was still there. Yes, he was.

And he gasped and sat up with a start. 

It jostled them all. It was one thing to see a dead man alive, but for him to come alive in front of them was another thing entirely. 

His eyes, his head, his mind, his spirit, were coursing with that familiar energy. Energy that had been sucked away in moments of anxiousness, after long late-night talks, quiet moments after a fire fight where they were in the middle of nowhere and the sun had to set right then, and he had felt somehow so full. So...more than happy. Full of love, an understanding, pregnant, complete. 

She gave it back. 

She'd saved it this whole time. 

And now, he was looking at her smiling face above him, tears of mourning to tears of gladness, and he couldn't see anything else. He sat up, and she reached to help him, but he didn't need it. He just cupped her face in his hand, and said:

"Skye, make me see stars."

He kissed her back.

And the stars welcomed them. 

They were a million miles away.

 

***

**Author's Note:**

> This is all of my speculation based on AoS and their dangling plot threads. 
> 
> For the purposes of my story, Skye is Mantis, although it's not stated here. Her 084 status and being raised by nuns (who are actually the pacifist Kree sect The Priests of Pama, I mean, who else who name a person Mary Sue Poots except for snarky sci-fi loving aliens?), her powers to exploit weaknesses and heightened empathy are all Mantis' abilities. The reason the SHIELD and HYDRA agents went after her is because there was an alien sect willing to die to protect the "Celestial Madonna". Could Whedon really avoid using his own favorite trope: the girl who could save the universe? You tell me.
> 
> I think it's safe to establish that the GH drug did something to Coulson (he saw a vision of stars when he remembered his TAHITI operation), and I believe he is housing the Kree Mar-Vell's consciousness. And because I love Phil, Phil gets to use those powers, at least once. Phil, in my mind, is the Rick Jones of the Marvel Movieverse, the ultimate Avengers fanboy that actually gets to hang out with and become an Avenger.
> 
> Thor's comment to Coulson about age discrepancies is definitely written for zauberer_sirin. Who inspired me to write some fanfic with such great stories!
> 
> I don't love the May/Coulson pairing, but I do like May and I wanted to let her name his superhero self for that shared history and affection.
> 
> I also like Coulson's soft spot for Fitz, which I felt like we got to see more of in "The Only Light In The Darkness".
> 
> Nick Fury sucks and gets to see Coulson die twice. Nice job, Nick, now go have your secret cry.
> 
> Tasha and Steve should work things out. Now that Tasha doesn't just have to follow orders and kill, kill, kill.


End file.
